Longitudinal Patterns of Neuroendocrine Coupling from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence

Abstract

Recent scholarship has highlighted the importance of understanding relations between hormones, rather than studying hormones in isolation. Considering neuroendocrine coupling, or the coordination of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis hormones over time, is one way to investigate how systems governing stress responsiveness and pubertal development covary during critical periods. To date, however, most work has considered hormone coupling cross-sectionally. The current study investigated neuroendocrine coupling in a longitudinal, community sample. Youth provided saliva samples for analysis of diurnal hormone activity at ages 9 and 12. Samples collected 30-minutes after waking were assayed for cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and testosterone. Multi-level growth modeling (MLM) was used to determine how levels of morning cortisol changed in tandem with DHEA and testosterone. Morning cortisol-DHEA coupling varied by child sex, as males initially demonstrated positive cortisol-DHEA coupling that diminished and became progressively more negative over time, especially among pubertally-advanced males. Females, in contrast, demonstrated negative morning cortisol-DHEA coupling that became more positive over time, especially among more pubertally-advanced females. Morning cortisol-testosterone coupling did not vary by sex or pubertal status, demonstrating positive associations at age 9 which strengthened by age 12. The current findings contribute to a fuller understanding of hormone coupling across development and expand this work into an earlier developmental phase than previously investigated. Furthermore, results highlight the critical impact of sex and pubertal development on hormone coupling patterns.